


All Is Not Well

by eringiles



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 03:43:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12268179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eringiles/pseuds/eringiles
Summary: Harry Potter isn't supposed to be scared of anything, and Albus Severus Potter, after everything that's happened, gets a terrifying glimpse of the man his father really is - The Boy Who Lived.





	All Is Not Well

They’re stood in the Headmaster’s office at Hogwarts when Harry comes back to himself. He’s no idea how they made it back from Godric’s Hollow and it takes him a moment to register the fact that they’re also back in the right time. Dumbledore is peering down at him over the head of Professor McGonagall. Harry looks around the office, registering the occupants. His wife, his best friends, Draco…

‘Where’s Albus?’

They all look round at him, stopping their conversation. Ginny’s brow creases in a look of concern.

‘We took Albus and Scorpius to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey is looking after them.’

Relief seems to flood Harry with a suddenness that makes him feel shaky and sick.

‘Mate, are you alright?’ Ron is edging towards him out of the corner of his eye as Harry removes his glasses, rubbing at his eyes and bowing his head.

His scar hurts. A dull ache that he hasn’t experienced in a long time, coming back to haunt him, like everything else has these past few days. He feels exhausted. When he looks back up, opening his mouth to answer Ron he feels like he’s just apparated for the first time. The world falls out from underneath him, as he hears Ginny calling his name.

‘Harry!’ 

*

Ginny feels like she’s back at the battle of Hogwarts as she watches her husband drop lifelessly to the floor. Ron’s old keeper instincts seem to have kicked in enough to stop Harry banging his head on the cold concrete of the office, and he’s just placing Harry’s head on the floor as Ginny crouches down by them both.

‘Harry?’ 

‘He’s still breathing, Gin.’ Ron reassures, fingers at the pulse point in Harry’s neck.

Ginny suspects that Harry’s just run out of steam. Now his family and friends are safe his body has just given up the ghost. She remembers what he was like the first few days after the battle of Hogwarts, where he’d just kept going trying to help with the clean-up. When they’d all gone back to The Burrow after the night of Fred’s funeral, Harry had put the fear of God in her mother by waking up the whole place on the first night screaming. Ginny had burst into Ron’s room, closely followed by Hermione, to find her brother looking round in a daze while Harry was drenched in a cold sweat, eyes wide and breathing heavily.

Ginny could remember hugging Harry close as he started to cry while her mum had brought him a sleeping draft and her dad had tried to usher everyone else back to bed. Ginny hadn’t been able to sleep after that. She didn’t think a lot of the house had been able to go back to sleep after that. 

Harry had spent the next few days mostly in bed exhausted, unable to face the rest of the inhabitants of the house. 

‘Let’s get him down to Poppy, shall we.’

*

When Albus blinks himself awake the candles have all been extinguished in the hospital wing. His parents and Draco had brought him and Scorpius down to see Madam Pomfrey before disappearing up to the Headmistress’ office, with a firm reassurance they’d be back soon. Scorpius and himself had been ushered into pyjamas and inspected for any lasting effects before being prescribed with a sleeping draught. Albus hadn’t drunk his, had wanted to see his parents when they returned, but he’d been so tired that the minute his head hit the pillow he’d been out like a light. 

‘Harry, it’s okay.’ He hears someone making hushing noises over the sounds of someone else crying.

For a moment, Albus thinks he’s still back in time, Lily Potter comforting her crying child -not that he’d ever heard baby Harry cry – so what comes next, jars him slightly.

‘Albus is safe.’ It’s his own mother, comforting his father. He’d seen a new side to his dad these past few days, but seeing him collapse after witnessing the death of his own mother and father had brought with it a new-found respect for the boy who lived.

‘Drink this, Mr. Potter.’

Albus slides out from beneath the covers. He chances a glance to his left to see that Scorpius is still sound asleep, mouth hanging open slightly. He pads down the length of the hospital wing to where a dim lantern still burns. He can see his dad lying on a bed, still dressed in his shirt and trousers, drinking what he already knows is one of Madam Pomfrey’s sleeping draughts. His waistcost is hung on the bedpost, along with his tie and his shoes have been neatly placed under the bed. His mum is perched on the bed beside him, facing him, one of her thumbs wiping the tears from his Dad’s cheeks. Madam Pomfrey is standing over them both.

‘You know, I thought I’d seen the last of you in my hospital wing some nineteen years ago, Mr. Potter. It seems I was wrong.’

His Dad looks awful. His hands are shaking. His hair looks like James’ does first thing in the morning. His eyes are bloodshot and puffy. He looks both broken and terrified. It scares Albus – Harry Potter isn’t supposed to be scared of anything.

‘Dad?’

Everyone turns to look at him, even his own father tries to stare bleary eyed up at him, but his eyes are already drooping closed. Albus watches as Madam Pomfrey takes back the mug from his now slack hand, as his Dad sinks into sleep, the frown upon his brow much less prominent now.

‘You should be asleep,’ his mum says softly as she removes the glasses from the end of his dad’s nose, folding them and placing them on the cabinet beside the bed. She rises from his dad’s beside and crosses towards Albus. His mother hugs him, kissing the side of his neck, but he still feels anxious, watching his father sleep over her shoulder.

‘Is Dad, okay?’

It takes his mum a moment to answer, and it’s that pause that makes Albus worry more.

‘He will be. Just give him some time.’

‘What’s wrong with him?’ Albus asks, hugging her a little tighter. ‘Did Delphi get him?’

His mum swallows and he feels a rush of wind pass his ear as she sighs. She pulls back, looking him in the eye.

‘What you’ve experienced today brought everything back to your dad. I know you’ve read the history books that talk about all the great adventures the golden trio had and how your dad defeated the dark lord, but-‘ she pauses. ‘How did it feel today? Saving the world?’

‘But I didn’t-‘

‘You did. Think about how you almost lost your best friend, how you almost-‘ she doesn’t finish the sentence, but Albus can fill in the gaps by the scared look on her face. ‘How does it make you feel?’

Albus thinks about it. ‘Relieved. A little bit terrified. Like I was winging it. Also, really, really tired.’ Albus yawns as if to make his point and his mother smiles slightly.

‘Then I think you have a pretty good idea of how your dad feels right now.’

Albus doesn’t realise his mum has lead him back to the other side of the hospital wing until she’s pulling the covers back on his bed and encouraging him to lie down.

‘Drink this, Mr. Potter.’ Madam Pomfrey hands him a steaming cup which he drinks this time. He doesn’t want to dream. He’s scared he’ll wake up crying like his dad.


End file.
